In February, I have had the opportunity to have extended discussions with partners and clients and our team in China and overseas about the positioning of IWOM, especially in an international context. In these discussions, I have shared how I strongly believe that while IWOM is a global phenomenon, how it plays out is very “local.” I have written extensively on this blog about how China is “different.” The places where people talk online are different (i.e. more on BBS than on blog, at least in relation to brands, see here and here), the degree that people participate is different (i.e. IWOM is more mainstream in China, see here), the importance/place of IWOM as a cultural force is different (see here), the language is different (that actual ‘language’, i.e. syntax, word segmentation etc., see here; as well as the net slang, see here); Essentially, I think for IWOM, you should “Think Global, but Act Local.”

While my belief that IWOM is very “local,” has not changed, something that has become clearer is the need for the companies in the respective local markets to see the need for “connectivity” to a global platform. What exactly would a global platform look like? It could be individual market IWOM firms like CIC “banding” together to deliver a “global” solution (integrating differences in technologies and methodologies is a big challenge here). Or, it could be a “third party” consumer insights provider that bands together these different local solutions for particular clients (perhaps better suited to integrate differences in technologies and methodologies, but still a big challenge). Or it could be one big player developing their own platform across all markets (a single player being able to address all of the immense differences in localities without “dumming down” the data is the challenge here).

In the coming years, we will see how this all exactly shakes out.